I have signed up for Landmark Education Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP). It is an accredited course in Washington State.
Described as…“Come to know self-expression and leadership as an occasion of creativity and vitality that enriches every aspect of your day-to-day life. Your classroom work will come alive when you take on a project of your choosing in your community and apply the abstractions.”
The vehicle for teaching is the creation of your own charity. What I want to know is this charity I create, will I be able to use it in my resume for Medical School application?
I have three babies under two years of age (yes, a set of twins). I have just started college. I work part time as a flight attendant. I have a full plate. I now assess everything as, “Does this propel me towards my ultimate goal? Or could it overload me to where I am not giving a 100 percent?” I am trying to decide whether to attend or put this off.
Landmark Ed. has really assisted me in pursuing my goals. Heck! Even identifying my dreams. I am definitely living a much bigger life than I was. I love it. Mmmmm. Maybe I am talking myself into it.
Has anyone else taken this course? Please feel free to throw whatever you want out there. Thanks.
Wow…Yeah if that’s the real deal with your link.
I would talk to the med school(s) you are interested in and see if any of their counselers have heard of this, or even some of your local colleges…Sometimes when things seem to good to be true, they are…Especially when it involves: YOU and YOUR MONEY…emphasis on YOUR MONEY.
I am sorry for the double-post, but did you research this at all? Their crazy!
Wow. 
Okay, folks. I do appreciate the reply. However, you didn’t quite answer my question. I didn’t want an opinion on if they are a cult. (Not meaning that in a snarky way, cuz I do want people to reply). I have taken their courses and they are excellent. I am not here to push Landmark. Through the course I will be taught how to start my own charity. No seriously. Isn’t this something good to know? Can’t it be used in my career later on?
I mean, if we all get great GPA’s and MCATS what is making us standout to even get the interview??? That is my question…
Will this charity creation be something to include on my medical school application? Not Landmark…the CHARITY I create???
Ok, I do not know if this would help you.
The bigger question I would be asking is if it would hurt you, given their notrocious reputation. This would personally be far more important to me. Have you scheduled a meeting with your med school of preference and gotten their opinion? If not, I would consider doing that.
But again, that is just my personal opinion.
I think the charitable work would be considered on your application however I think also the medical schools are going to consider the SOURCE from which this charitable work or organizations stems from. I’m not an expert, by any means, not even close. I would get the advice of someone who has been through the process or is someone who has more experience with this than me. I just read that link and from the little I read I wouldn’t want to be affiliated with a company or organization that had that much negative press. The last thing you want is one of the adcom’s to google your name and find it associated with an organization that has a ton of negative press like that one does IMHO.
Rhonda,
Exactly the point I was trying to make to her. I cannot think of everyone who would/could knowingly endorse this place by their presence knowing what I know now about it.
Then to flaunt it to a med school, that seems like application suicide. Maybe I’m wrong, but, I would not take that chance…
Very interesting. Hmmm. Food for thought. What I liked about your points…this time around…is that there may be enough negative that it could hurt me, just because of that. Irregardless of whether it’s legitimate info or not. My experience of positive will not counteract the crazy.
A few areas of interest.
Landmark is accredited in Washington State as a legitimate course.
I took it with a medical school professor at UW. Not a completely bad reputation.
Took it with numerous UW students that are brilliant in many ways. The people in this course were awesome members of society. Not your religious cult members. (Just my experience, I do believe others could have a different experience.)
Be careful what you read on the internet. You don’t know if it’s crazies just posting about it. “Normal” people don’t usually post positive information to counteract the negative.
We all know that it’s a losing battle to fight the online bloggers that are there just to type nonsense about anything that might make someone mad. I certainly am not going to take on the people that post crap…
(Okay, just read some reviews. ROFL. It’s like true and a spin at the same time. Come on, it’s a business. But, you aren’t going to believe me, just the other crap people wrote. Going back to write my English paper, must keep my 4.0 in that class. It really will get me into Medical School. LOL)
Read the Rick Cross article. Ugh, I have to question anyone who believes that crap. I have had people announce to me it was a pyramid scheme et cetera. I finally came to the conclusion that a strangers word means more than a friends word. You know what, that’s okay. My professor said to never believe anyone that says something is or isn’t the truth. Rick Cross has no references, or research. It’s an article on a 1.5 hour intro he went to. He throws out a lot of big scary names, like, Mao. A “psychologist” friend. Oh brother.
Come on guys. Think, not everything negative is true. He NEVER even took the course. But, like I said before, you shouldn’t believe me and won’t. But, you probably will believe that nobody cuz he’s on the internet. Okay…now really back to my English paper.
OK I don’t know anything about the program and don’t have time to read the links, so I have no opinion on the cult stuff… If I were evaluating your application, my concern would be: do you have altruism only when it is for college credit? And the other is, if you start a charity that is actually providing a good service to a group of people, do you maintain it? or just do it for a few months? (potentially leaving people in exactly the same place they were before)
I’m not criticizing YOUR motives, I am presenting the questions that would come to mind if I were the evaluator for an AdCom. Sounding great and being great are two different things.
Mary
Thanks Mary. That is what I wanted to know. I know you don’t know my motives. I am trying to make sure that charity work doesn’t undermine my first two goals, family and education. It might help my family, will it help my educational goals? I never thought about the repercussion of not maintaining the charity. It’s suppose to be something that stays alive. But, if it doesn’t, I won’t include it on my app. Perfect, thanks!
Truly, I believe that people over-think the “volunteering” or “charity work” aspect of applying to med school. As I’ve said a few other times, I do believe that med schools want to know that you really do have an interest in community service. The practice of medicine is, itself, a form of community service - although one that is well-paid. But you have to understand that practicing medicine means caring for people even if they smell, or irritate the crap out of you, or are difficult to work with, or don’t have anything in common with you.
And so medical schools like to see that people have done anything that indicates that you are willing to reach out and work with other people, rather than stay in your own insular cocoon of family and school.
There’s a sense of duty in the practice of medicine that can also be exemplified by some form of community service. If you want hospital privileges, you will have to agree to take call at that hospital’s ER - and that means you will have to agree to see indigent patients without insurance when you are on call, just for one example. Another example: I can’t just take Friday afternoon off on the spur of the moment: I will have appointments scheduled.
So if you have done SOMETHING in your life that demonstrates a commitment to community service - Habitat for Humanity or Girl Scout Cookie Mom or Sunday School Teacher of the year - then you have something that med schools want to see. There certainly are introverts as well as extroverts in med school, but I will tell you that in general, the profession favors an extroverted approach to life and they do want to see that you have waded in and mixed it up. 
Mary
Oh good, so 11 years as the preacher’s wife will come in handy. 
That will be nice if that counts, why not? You probably HAVE done a lot of community service. Speaking to a friend, when I start my own charity, I will def. leave out the “Landmark” part. I don’t want my project to be judged as “less than” because of unfamiliarity w/a company. I am excited that they will teach me HOW to do it. I mean does the average person really know how to create, organize and propel charitable work? Shouldn’t doctors be a part of the improvement of their fellow humans in all sorts of ways? Okay, I guess that’s a separate post. Hahaha.
Mary-I am definitely an extrovert. (I can annoy introverts 
) I look forward to any extra I need to do. My competition is fierce, and in 4 years I plan on putting up a good fight for where I want to be. Due to my full plate, I am planning now so that I don’t say “Woops” later.
Kimberly_h,
Please take my comments in the spirit they’re inteneded. I’m not out to mock anyone’s choices, I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents to possibly help.
I realize that the critics are only one side of the argument, and maybe I’m wrong. But it never hurts to get an idea of how those with whom you may be interviewing might perceive the name. It is a kind of offshoot of Werner Ehrhardt’s (sp?), “est” movement from the 1970’s. Now I’ll shut up about it forever more.
Also, to everyone on the forum: Thanks to you all for the good advice I’ve read here.
I’ve just started posting, but I’ve been lurking for quite some time. I’m just about ready to start the journey of preparation for a major career change. I put the “NON” in non-traditional.
Thanks Mr. Bombastic! I just did the first work day. It was unbelievable. I am so inspired. I think my community project or charity is going to involve stem cell research or unapproved drug therapies. My bff’s husband fell out of a tree and broke his back. This is a person that was so vibrant. He led rafting trips, he was in the outdoors all of the time.
Oh, here’s the story if you want to read the full horrible story…
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/12/28/a rea_news/d…
So, that it has the potential of living and include others, I do want it to be somewhat generic. This is a process of starting it up and getting it going. Sarah is my community and if it helps others than… fantastic! I guess you all will know what I am up to. Hopefully I can start it’s own site so you can see how it goes. The other thing I would like to do is raise money that doesn’t directly pull from people’s pockets. Like collecting pop top tabs. If you have any suggestions I would love it. Thanks again you guys!
The other exciting part of it is, I have a Med school applicant in my group. One ER doc, one resident dentist and possibly one other doc I haven’t met. So, it’s going to be a great resource for me. I am thrilled!
Kimberly_H